Ok so this is only the second year I have ever thought about Valentines day. Do you buy gifts? So what are your thoughts. What do you buy? I am so confused. I just got through his birthday and Christmas which are only 3 days appart now this I am out of ideas.

merlinmagic4

01-31-2008, 06:52 AM

I am probably going to be the only one to say this but I think Valentine's Day is a "Hallmark Holiday". They make millions on cards, candy, etc. and cause a lot of stress for people who don't know what to get, how much to get, or who to get it for. Every day is Valentine's Day in my house :D I made my husband agree early on that we would not be extravagant on V-Day. He always comes home with a card/flowers/candy but I wish he wouldn't! I'd rather spend the money on a Disney trip!

My advice would be to agree now that you'll do a nice dinner together to celebrate. Good luck!

pogo

01-31-2008, 07:31 AM

My DW and I always have a special dinner on Valentines day with a nice bottle of wine. :thumbsup: No gifts !

This year I am cooking as my DW will be working and I'm taking the afternoon to cook for her. :D

Strmchsr

01-31-2008, 08:18 AM

Personally I refuse to be told by Hallmark that I'm a bad husband if I don't participate in a pagan fertility festival. :D

Seriously, DW has told me many times that she'd hit me if I bought flowers on Valentine's Day. Why pay $60 for a dozen roses in Feb when I can wait a week and get them for $12? We also try to do romantic, fun things year round (as much as you can with two young children) so we couldn't care less about Feb 14.

merlinmagic4

01-31-2008, 08:31 AM

I'm so happy others think the way I do! :D

Jeff

01-31-2008, 08:37 AM

I think Valentine's Day is a "Hallmark Holiday". They make millions on cards, candy, etc. and cause a lot of stress for people who don't know what to get!

Well said!

DizNee143

01-31-2008, 09:19 AM

we acknowledge valentines day..but we dont go crazy with it...and usually dont celebrat to the weekend of...dinner..card..and maybe a little girt..
i too kinda believe its a hallmark holiday...
but its nice to have one day a year that gets everyone all lovey dovey...
cuz this is thee only time my fiance ever even thinks to do something cute and romantic for me..so i look forward to it each year!!

crazypoohbear

01-31-2008, 10:46 AM

OH Crud, that day is coming up again.

I never understood VD.

IF you don't tell someone you love them on THAT day then it's over??? :confused:
What about the 364 other days, is it okay to ignore them, not say "I love you" and do nothing for them. Just make sure you spend a ton of money on half dead flowers on the 14th and all is good?!!!:ack:

And WHY do kids celebrate valentines day. you have to buy cards and candy for them to hand out to everyone in their class (even the kids who pick onthem and make them miserable) Do they really have a true love in 1st grade??? Aren't we trying to steer them away from dating and pairing up. Then why encourage it on this day???
It's over rated, expensive and really no one enjoys the pressure.
LET'S just sleep in and skip it this year!

Excuse me now while I step down from my soap box :blush:

Terra

01-31-2008, 10:52 AM

So far, I'm with you guys....It's a money making holiday to me mostly....and I agree with StrmChsr about the pagan fertility aspect too...
I like my DH to tell me all year that he loves me! lol...

However, my birthday just happens to be Valentine's Day!! Yikes!
So we celebrate my birthday....my DH also gets "valentine gifts" too....

I just can not convince him that I could care less about valentine's day....I always looked at as my birthday....but he's scared he'll get in trouble! See the pressure the holiday creates!! LOL...

And I'm the same way on flowers too....all that man dead in days....I'd rather have the money to go the mall with!:mickey:

But if you do want to do something...
I do like the idea of cooking a romantic dinner for your sweetie [but no just on V-day!]
and/or even writing a nice old fashioned love letter! lol....

Cinderelley

01-31-2008, 11:48 AM

I love Valentine's Day! DH is adamant about not wanting anything, but I usually get him a card.

DH & the kids buy me chocolate :cloud9:. (There was one year they hid the boxes of chocolate in DS17's room. We came home from grocery shopping and the dog had gotten into the room, tore up the heart-shaped boxes and eaten all the chocolate.) :rotfl:

DH is Mr. Macho Man, so I don't get to be lovey-dovey too often, but on Valentine's Day he's willing to suffer through it. ;)

May524

01-31-2008, 11:51 AM

I always buy my DH a cute fun pair of boxers (a tradition since we started dating over 7 years ago). I'll also get him some chocolates I'm sure. I usually bake some cookies for my parents and grandmother. I also get my neices and nephews some candy and a card. :cloud9:

Kairi_7378

01-31-2008, 01:39 PM

I grew up celebrating Valentine's Day... it's my Dad's birthday! Valentine's DAy always meant a nice meal with the family, chocolate cake, and watching my parents being love-y with each other. I really grew to appreciate this as I learned that not all of my friends had parents that loved each other like mine did. My parents always got us something small (usually some m and m's) so we would feel included.

Today, DH and I have the problem that we celebrate Christmas and Chanuka (in December) and our anniversary in March. We decided before we were married that the best thing to do would be to make a nice dinner and maybe watch a movie together with a bottle of wine. We take turns making the dinner.

RAIDER

02-01-2008, 04:23 AM

We were talking about this in our office and the real joke of this day was that none of us knew who ST VALENTINE was and what he did .... ( and nor can i be bothered to look it up )

So i agree with the majority its a real manufactured day

Strmchsr

02-01-2008, 08:35 AM

We were talking about this in our office and the real joke of this day was that none of us knew who ST VALENTINE was and what he did .... ( and nor can i be bothered to look it up )

I'll help you out here. St Valentine was one of the martyred Christians of ancient Rome named Valentinus who was later given sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. In 496 his feast day became Feb 14. There's actually at least 3 St Valentines and until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized a total of eleven Valentine's days. Besides February 14, these include January 7, May 2, July 16, August 31, September 2, October 25, November 1 and November 3, November 11, November 13, and December 16. In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed St Valentine's feast in an effort to "clean-up" saints who may have been purely legendary. There's tons of legends about Valentine but the first recorded link between Valentine's Day and romantic love was in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parlement of Foules in 1382. On the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saints' day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307. Readers incorrectly assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day. However, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England. Everything else associating Valentine with sentimental love is purely legendary, coming from various myths expounding upon "The Golden Legend" from the Middle Ages.

Despite my joke about the pagan fertility festival, that is also a myth. In the ancient Athenian calendar, the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera, but it had nothing to do with Feb 14. In Ancient Rome, February 15 was Lupercalia, an archaic rite connected to fertility, without overtones of romance.

So, everything about romantic love on Feb 14 is purely mythological. So feel free to celebrate another day. :D

Dakota Rose

02-01-2008, 06:07 PM

We do cards and maybe go out for a date. February is a rough month for DH. Our anniversary and my birthday both come within a few days of Valentine's, so we've stopped exchanging gifts.

Tinkermom

02-01-2008, 09:01 PM

Usually DH and I give each other a card and maybe a small gift. Sometimes DH gets me flowers.

This year though we will be celebrating Valentine's Day on a Disney cruise! :D:cloud9: 1 more week!!! :joy:

BelleLovesTheBeast

02-01-2008, 11:18 PM

Usually DH has flowers sent to me. He travels so we don't really celebrate. I typically make something special for dinner when he is here. However this year he is getting me a WDCC membership.

Hull-onian

02-03-2008, 07:20 PM

Ok so this is only the second year I have ever thought about Valentines day. Do you buy gifts? So what are your thoughts. What do you buy? I am so confused. I just got through his birthday and Christmas which are only 3 days appart now this I am out of ideas.

Birthdays :birthday: are not to be ignored if they are little kids. Valentines Day I skip only because it is very expensive and I would have sooo many people :crowd: to buy for. A phone call or e mail works for me.

adoptionislove

02-04-2008, 10:37 PM

We celebrate Valentines day at our house. Sure, we all get a little something, dinner, cards, candy, flowers, BUT the real reason we celebrate is tFeb. 14th is the day that our caseworker called and said they have a baby girl at the hospital for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was the day we took home our little girl, and we were able to adopt her a few months later!!!!!:cloud9:

LauraF

02-05-2008, 10:29 AM

I've got one of the birthday/christmas types. :mickey: It's hard to have to come up with presents for three months out of four.

What I do is buy him something *really* nice for his birthday becuase his family tends to do combo gifts at Christmas and gloss over the b-day. (This year it was tickets to the Nutcracker in Boston and a fancy dinner.) For Christmas it's a little less expensive - he got some nice sheet music and a mongrammed music tote bag (he's a musican if it wasn't obvious). Valentine's is on the cheap because of the close holidays. (He's getting some clothes he's been wanting.) However he has no excuse to skimp because my birthday is in May . . . I've not gotten presents for while now! :thedolls:

scootch713

02-05-2008, 10:33 AM

I usually get the kids a small gift(this year a webkinz and a jonas brothers tshirt). Dh and I will try to go out for dinner sometime in Feb, not right on the holiday or holiday weekend, but just sometime during the month.

prprincess

02-05-2008, 11:39 AM

Hubby and I have been married almost 5 years, but dated 9 years before that. We have honestly gotten each other every gift that we could possibly want through the years, so we usually forego Valentine's Day gifts, and just exchange cards. But I will probably buy our DSs a little something.

I have to say, though, that hubby will always surprises me with a little something, like a box of candy. :-)